Tuesday 30 August 2011

Adventures in Chili Sauce...

I noticed that our staple bottle of Kaitaia Fire was just about empty, so yesterday I went on a mexican chili sauce search to find a replacement.

It is the difficult to find mexican things in Auckland. There aren't many mexican restaurants, and the ones there are go light on the hot sauce. Good hot sauce, Kaitaia Fire aside, is also hard to find in shops.

After a bit of a search, I found that the Mexican cafe in Ellerslie, Mexican Specialities, has an online store. There is also a shop in Dunedin, but I decided to go local.

In a rush I order four bottles; el Yucateco Green Habanero Sauce, Melindas Naga Jolokia, Melindas Hot Sauce, and Chipotle el Yucateco. Four quite different hot sauce styles. The Naga Jolokia is said to be extremely hot, while retaining a full flavour.


On closer inspection I found that I had possibly made a purchase mistake. I hadn't read the small print on the sides of the bottles, which is something I normally do religiously. The (mexican) Green Habanero sauce is riddled with preservatives and food colours. However, the (texan) Melindas sauces look far more promising.

Next time I will try the Cholula sauces which are mexican and additive free-ish. I will avoid the Zaaschila range as they are the most chemically enhanced and contain MSG.

Perhaps I should reserve judgement until I have actually tasted the sauces.